One that got away…

Here are the Three Stars following a difficult 4-3 Reds loss to the Giants.

No. 3 star: Melky Cabrera, SF — 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 sac bunt

No. 2 star: Todd Frazier — 2-for-3, two run HR. Frazier stepped in when Scott Rolen was scratched with back spasms in the top of the first inning while Zack Cozart batted. Frazier made a nice diving stop towards the line to rob Buster Posey of an extra-base hit in the first inning. In the fifth, he gave the Reds a 2-1 lead with a homer to left field off of Ryan Vogelsong.

“His back just locked up on him,” Dusty Baker said of Rolen. “It was just like a few minutes before the game. At that point we went to Frazier, who had a good day for us.”

No. 1 star: Buster Posey, SF — 3-for-4, 2 RBIs. Posey hit a two-out RBI single in the third for a 1-0 Giants lead and had the key two-out groundrule double that set up a brutal finish — the double by Angel Pagan.

Click herefor the Reds disappointment over Phillips and Cueto not being picked. Tony LaRussa was not pleased when he heard the comments.

Click herefor the complete game story on MLB.com. The final version, when posted, will include Baker’s thoughts on the top of the 9th.

*Yes the Reds got a four-game series split against a very tough first place Giants team with a superb pitching staff. But they can’t let that chance at a win get away like that. In the top of the ninth, they had four-straight hits to start the inning and scored just one run. No good. Not having Joey Votto available proved devastating as the Reds had to use Wilson Valdez pinch-hit with two outs.

News and notes:

*As for the final play, Jay Bruce took full responsibility. He just misjudged his proximity to the wall, which prompted an early leap to miss the ball.

“It was not as close to the wall as I thought it was,” Bruce said. “I missed it. It’s really, really embarrassing. It should be an error. It’s not. I pride myself on my defense. That’s just embarrassing.”

*Bronson Arroyo said he called Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong to let him know he wasn’t trying to bean him. Arroyo, who hit Posey with a pitch up and in during the fifth, went in tight on Vogelsong twice in the sixth while he was trying to sacrifice bunt. Vogelsong took exception and spiked his bat while yelling at Arroyo. The benches cleared briefly before order was restored.

Here are the full version of the quotes from both parties:

Arroyo:

“I was just missing my spots. He just got irritated. I played with Ryan for a long time. I called over there and told him he had every right to be irritated. I’ve got to get the ball down. Even if you’re going in, which I wasn’t, I was going away, you can’t get up near guys’ heads. I had already hit Buster up near his head as well. I told him it’s my fault. They’ve got all the right in the world to be irritated. I knew it wasn’t going to get out of hand because I think Ryan knows me well enough to know there wasn’t any malice in it. In the heat of battle, guys are obviously going to be frustrated and have allegiance to the ballclub and that’s the way it goes.”

“I talked to him. He knows me well enough to know it wasn’t intentional. I wanted him to hear it out of my mouth. I don’t have a problem hitting guys if the situation is right but those situations weren’t on purpose and those weren’t the right places to be hitting somebody if you’re trying. You can’t get up near guys’ faces. I don’t want to be at the plate trying to lay a couple of bunts down and having somebody buzz my tower.”

What did Arroyo say to Vogelsong on the field after the sac bunt?

“I was telling him it’s on me. There’s just really no excuse for it to tell you the truth. I’m trying to go down and away twice. You might miss once. But to miss twice in a row, you really shouldn’t do it.”

Vogelsong:

“I know that he wasn’t trying to hit me, so let’s get that out of the way. Bronson and I are friends. We played together in Pittsburgh and we talk occasionally. So we’re friends, but when you’re on the field and you’re between the lines, you’re not friends any more. Ball’s coming up and in, it’s not a comfortable feeling, you don’t like it. I’m sure he wasn’t intentionally trying to hit Buster, either, but … you’re in the heat of battle and things happen like that and you get fired up.”

I’m glad Cueto is not going to KC. He’s pitching 3 games on the West Coast swing including the closing game on Sunday. LaRussa noted this and it’s been obvious for many days. If Dusty is smart, he’ll will pitch game 1 against St. Louis on the 13th.

Phillips was a victim of the Every Team Has an All Star rule in that no Astro other than Altuve is on the team.

Everybody and their mom KNEW that when they had 4 straight hits and only got ONE RUN, the game was OVER. If you didn’t think that was the case then you are either lying, or you don’t know this team very well. Marty knew it, you could tell by his reaction.

Votto could have pinch hit and never swing bat and they might have walked him and we had second catcher sitting in Dug out but with Dusty this team will be close but not a winner as he bunts when you should hit but swings when a bunt could be used when on west coast should have told Dusty take 3 months off we will call if we need you

I would never consider Leake as much of an option until this year. We dont have good pinch hitters and maybe its time Dusty takes a look at these types of options. 0-5 is not as bad as 0-20 that we threw out there for about a month. But will say normally would not be under this type of situations unless someone like Votto and Rolen are out for the day like yesterday.

I love this team..love the Reds..have since I was 5 years old. A couple of things… Not a big Dusty fan>> great guy..not a great manager..We have solid pitching..need another bat..another rbi guy badly..lets not let July 31 come and go without making an effort to get one please…GO REDS from Brother in Birminghakm

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